Why Fairy Doors & Gnome Doors Aren't Yours to Close!

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While garden gnomes will have no problem moving right into your garden, it isn't as easy for household gnomes to move in. Sure, they're clever, and they have their own tools, so they could get in if they really wanted to; but they're also polite, and they prefer to enter through portals that have been specially prepared for them. Keep in mind the fact that house gnomes are the gnomic nobility. They understand human languages and humans better than all the others -- even the garden gnomes, whom they sometimes refer to (a bit condescendingly) as "lawn gnomes." They also understand the power inherent in being invited into someone's home, so if you want the gnomes to come calling, it would behoove you to install a gnome door or two. Also called "fairy doors," these are little doors that only Wee Folk can open, and they'll fit just about anywhere -- on one of your walls, on the door next to the pet flap (which no self-respecting gnome would ever use, of course), in the foundation -- wherever gnomes can reach. You can also get special doors to install in your garden (say, in a stone or tree root) to help attract garden gnomes, but these have to be special-ordered because they're more magical than regular ones. Fair warning: if you find a fairy or gnome door wide open, don't try to be helpful and close it. It's open for a reason. If you lock your resident gnome out of your house, he might not be able to get back in -- and there goes your luck!

If you want to see an excellent display of public fairy doors and can afford the airplane fare, visit Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ann Arbor is famous for its urban fairies and the tiny doors found in some businesses and homes. At the Ark Theater, they even have their own ticket window (below the main ticket window, of course), that distributes tickets for shows like "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Tempest," and "The Beetles."

One final note regarding house gnomes. If you think you might have gnomes, make sure that you never put down any mousetraps. It's not that the gnomes will get caught or anything (even teen gnomes are much too clever for that); it's just that gnomes love animals, even the ones we think of as pests. House gnomes, noble or not, share the same attitudes as their free-living brethren. They could never bear to see a mouse caught in a trap. This being the case, resident gnomes will do their best to keep your house free of rodents, simply by politely asking them to go elsewhere. If by ill chance you do somehow manage to catch a poor mouse in a trap, don't be surprised if your gnomes, and the good luck they bring, simply disappear overnight.

On to part seven :: Kidnapped Garden Gnomes - Fun or Felony?!
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